Hunter PvE guide
Things Hunters want Non-Hunters to Know * Warriors, swallow your ego and let us pull, and possibly even mark as well. We're better at it than you. We've got tracking, which means we can see patrols when you can't, and we also have feign death, which means that if we pull from a distance, if we miscalculate the number of mobs that end up being pulled, we can feign and reset, or die without anyone else being killed. * Melee classes shouldn't try to compete with us at ranged combat; Warriors should be building rage and managing aggro, not plinking at mobs with bows or guns. Rogues should be building up combos and delivering finishing moves, not throwing knives. If you're a Warrior or Rogue, don't try and make a valid case for rolling against me on a high level ranged weapon and expect me to listen to you. Melee classes rolling on ranged weapons makes exactly the same amount of sense as a Mage rolling Need on an epic sword. Just because they can equip it, doesn't mean they should. * Not all Hunters lack pet control. Some of us take quite a bit of pride in our ability to keep our pets out of trouble. Don't limit us and make us dismiss our pets just because you've worked with bad hunters in the past. Asking us to dismiss our pets is like asking a Rogue to put away one of his daggers or asking a Warlock to not use DoTs. * Most of the people playing our class royally suck at it. We're aware of this, and many of us are extremely insecure about it. However, unless the Hunter you're grouped with does something which demonstrates him or her to be incompetent, try to initially assume that they might just be one of the (admittedly very few) Hunters walking around who actually do know how to play. Occasionally we'll pleasantly surprise you. * We don't all consider our pets expendable; they lose happiness when they get killed, and it can take a lot of feeding to get them back up to full efficiency (not to mention roughly half of our mana bar). We'll sacrifice the pet if necessary, but we'd rather not have to (unlike Warlock pets, our pets dying actually cost us money in the form of food and mana drinks). We're usually emotionally attached to them as well. * Let us use our tracking abilities to see what's around before starting another fight (yes, we can see just about everything in the next room from the other side of the wall). If we say there's a patrol coming, don't go forward and draw aggro. * Healers -- If our pet is tanking please heal the pet when they need it. If the pet dies, you are very likely to get the aggro, and you don't want that. If we use our pet to pull a mob off of you, it is nice to at least toss it a renew. It is also true that many raid hunters are in fact BM hunters who include in their build party bonuses; however, these bonuses, 3% extra dps per party member for 10 seconds every time your pet crits, are based upon the pet being alive to crit, in a higher 70 raid throwing a +4k heal on a pet does not cost you much mana, or so we'd hope. * On the flip side of the coin, if our pet is just doing damage and not tanking, save your healing for the other party members, unless nobody's getting hurt and you just have a plethora of available mana. * When using the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety tactic, if a pull goes bad, feign death fails and huge numbers of mobs swarm the hunter, do not (repeat DO NOT) help the hunter (this includes healing). Let him die. The whole point of the PZoUS is that if the pull goes bad, the worst that happens is that the hunter dies and is resurrected. If, however, you engage the mobs, after killing the hunter they will go after you instead of returning to where they came from, thus completely defeating the purpose of the PZoUS. * Traps are a valuable form of crowd control and can be used against all mob types (there are a few exceptions, such as most water elementals), assuming it's not resisted. Please don't break the ice. If you want to trap a specific mob in a group it's best to pull that mob first, generally the other mobs in the group wait a second to start moving towards the party. Mages, you're not going to want us to hit your sheep, so likewise, watch where you're casting Frost Nova or Blizzard and don't do it near an ice trap. ;) * Feign Death can, and often is resisted by mobs at our level and higher, especially if there are many mobs and the hunter has no points in Improved Feign Death, which he usually doesn't. Believe us when we say that we need a heal or a rez. Another note on Feign Death, it has a cooldown and we can't simply spam it. * When Feign Death works, we can wipe all aggro from ourselves allowing a tank to take it. This is why hunters should pull, if the pull goes wrong, we can abort it. * While it's true that melee weapons see more use by melee classes, it's also true that we contributed to the group that caused that weapon to drop, and as such if we want a fair shot at rolling for it, it isn't polite to tell us we can't. A weapon having the combination of +Agility/+AP on it, and especially if it also has intellect or mp5, is typically intended for a hunter. * We do use mana, and we are generally much worse at DPS without it, so give us a chance to get our mana back too. An Arcane Intellect and some conjured water are nice as well. * Misdirection is a spell that puts all the aggro generated by the next three shots after applying it on the target the misdirection spell was applied to, this combined with longer range makes hunter pulling (especially of bosses) an even better option. Keep in mind it has a two-minute cooldown, though. * A pet is not a replacement for a tank. The pet is used to draw aggro off the surprisingly frail hunter, and to draw attention from the healer. The pet is not going to be able to hold three mobs at once. The pet's inferior amount of control (compared to warriors and other tanks) combined with the unchanging health bar for other party members, makes it a sub-standard tank in every respect. The pet is useful, but a group taking on a challenge equal in level to themselves will need a tank. * When tanking a moving target, avoid pulling the mob too close to the hunter if possible; if it gets too close, it may require the hunter to move to a place where the target is in ranged distance again, thereby losing damage. Things Non-Hunters want Hunters to Know * Whatever you do, please be careful with multishot. Don't use it to pull, and don't use it around crowd control unless you are absolutely sure one of your shots will not break it. Hunters who do are despised by the rest of the community. Multishot pulling can be done if you know 100% for sure what mobs will be coming towards the party. Multishot combined with misdirection puts all the aggro from the three shots on the target misdirection was applied to. * In combat, be aware of DoTs dropped on creeps before laying down a frost trap. It's a waste of time to do otherwise, and a waste of goodwill to blame the group for "breaking your trap" when the DoT was on the creep prior to the frost trap being put down. * Accidents are inevitable, forgiveness is divine. Know how to control your pet, when to put it away and when to get it off the mob a priest or mage is trying to polymorph or shackle. * Hunters who know how and when to use their traps are admired by all. * Do not run away if you get aggro. The more the tank has to chase the mob the longer it takes to get the aggro off you. Either feign death or run to the tank! * Remember to always check your ammo before going to instance or raid. Hunters are not a melee class, and without ammo you are next to useless. * Make sure to let your party or raid know when you are feigning death and when it is resisted. Set up macros and put them on your action bar. * Do not draw aggro and feign death at the last moment. No one enjoys chasing a mob as it targets a hunter, then chasing it back as it targets someone quite a distance away. Things Hunters want new Hunters to Know * Become competent. There are a very large number of people in this game who play a Hunter, and most of them have utterly no idea what they are doing. They cause wipes, their pets run wild pulling half an instance full of mobs at a time, they forget to buy food, water, and ammunition at the beginning of an instance run, and they habitually roll need on items which they shouldn't. Because of this, our class has the reputation of the average dog with fleas, and we thus also have to work twice as hard as other classes in order to earn the same measure of respect. Study the abilities that this class has. Learn about pulling. Learn about trapping, and then learn about chain trapping. Figure out which macros you need, and get them. Also realise that as a Hunter, you're going to be expected to keep track of close to literally half a dozen different things at once in a group scenario, and that's assuming you're not setting marks for the group. If you as an individual can't handle that, you're going to be doing everyone concerned (including yourself) a favour if you roll another class. * In groups, avoid rolling at all (even Greed) on items unless you're certain that you genuinely do need them. That means avoiding cloth items completely. It also means avoiding items with all other stats for the most part except Agility, Stamina, +hit, +crit, and +attack power. Strength doesn't add to our ranged damage, and should be avoided. Spirit does very little for a Hunter as well. Int we do need some of, but generally gear that has been designed specifically for us will have Agility and/or Attack Power as well as Intellect; you don't want items with Int alone. Instances are also not the place to be trying to make money; there are farming areas for that, and the other thing to consider is that if you only roll on items which you truly do need, other people will be a lot more likely to let you have them. Nobody likes a loot hog, so it is not in your best interests to be one. * Take good care of what your pet does, especially when you're in a group. Nobody wants to see some aggressive pet run into the next mob group while the healer is OOM. Aggressive mode can lead to a lot of trouble, defensive or even passive is far better. Note that the pathfinding is not perfect, so jumping down a hole in an instance and having the pet just follow you might be a rather dumb idea. In instance groups, your pet will often have the lowest healing priority, so be prepared to cast "mend pet" or use a bandage, even if there's a healer in the group. Always carry enough food for the pet with you. Stocking up on food is nearly as important as stocking up on ammo. * Map a keybinding to both pet attack and passive. This way if for some reason your pet is going after the wrong mob (tab targeting is somewhat less than optimal), taking a bad path due to weird pathing and will aggro mobs etc you can call it back at a moment's notice. Mapping a key to pet attack simply makes sending your pet in more convenient. * Remember that you can reduce or even reset your aggro, e.g. using Feign Death and Disengage. This might upset the healer for a second, but on the long run makes his or her job easier. Another note on this is when you Feign Death in a group, watch where the mob goes, if it heads for the healer, send your pet after it, jump up and pull it off the healer. If for whatever reason the mob simply will not get off the healer, run up to it and drop a freeze trap at its feet. * Note that Feign Death can save you some repair costs, if your group has a wipe. However, if there's still a chance that the group can win the battle, you should get up and return to combat, even at the risk of dying. Giving up too early leads to a bad reputation. * Even though this one now is somewhat true for all classes... If you get the opportunity to roll for an item, think about its usefulness for you, and if it might not be more useful for some other group member. Note that the ability to use a weapon is not a sufficient reason to roll on it, so please take a look at the stat bonuses of the weapon. The "Hunter Weapon" joke exists for a reason. * Do not multi-shot around crowd controlled mobs. * If you pull aggro and force the healer to sit there spamming heals on you, make sure that the tank is still higher on the threat list than your healer before you Feign Death. If your mistake forces your healer to move above the tank in threat, you can kite, trap, try to have your pet take aggro, or call out for your party to focus DPS on the mob that's pounding you, but keep your healer in mind. * Learn how to trap and chain trap (using Freezing Trap). Be sure to turn off autoshot/autoattack after pulling a mob to your trap so that you don't break your own trap. When trapping in instances, place the trap early, so that if it's resisted the first time you can drop another one straight away. Juggle trap duration & cooldown so that you can chain trap a mob (i.e. trap it again and again to keep it out of the rest of the fight, until the group is ready to deal with it). * When kitting, Serpent Sting is an excellent way to keep the mob's aggro. Each tick brings more hate. Jump shots are still required, however using Serpent Sting it will make the downtime in-between sprints a little less critical. General tips Rogue Let your pet tank and hold aggro as much as possible. This allows the Rogue to build combo points and unload DPS. Keeping Trueshot Aura up will make Rogues happy, too. Warrior Don't generally roll either Need or Greed on axes, swords, maces, or anything with +Strength on it. Yes, Warriors have a tendency to take gear which we genuinely do need, but that doesn't mean we should do the same thing back. If you're competent as a Hunter, you'll likely find yourself competing with Warriors for the role of leadership within a group. With tracking, our bow, Feign Death, and Disengage, we're a lot more suited for both pulling and marking than they are, but they generally refuse to accept this, and the number of bad Hunters in existence doesn't help our case there, either. If you know you're good at pulling and/or marking in a group, a good strategy is to try and ensure that you actually initially form groups, since there are some instances, (the Steamvault is a good example) where it's fairly certain that you'll be able to do a better job at marking than he is, if you're competent. If you give him leader initially, you're not going to get it back, and he won't let you mark, pull, or utilise the Perfect Zone of Ultimate Safety, either. In addition to the above, Warriors have a bad habit of rolling on high level ranged weapons that we need, when they can't justify it, despite them thinking that they can. As a Hunter, you will likely want that bow or gun as your primary weapon; he'll want it purely for the stats, and also maybe because it looks cool. This is another reason why it can sometimes be beneficial to actually get a Paladin to tank in a group instead. A Paladin won't compete with you for ranged weapons, because they can't use them. If a Warrior tries to roll on a ranged weapon that you need, you might consider pointing that out to them, and suggesting that you won't be willing to group with them in future if they insist on taking equipment which rightfully belongs to you. Use your pet as an off-tank if you get adds. Otherwise, just add your pet to the attack with Growl disabled. If the Warrior needs a heal, use Concussive Shot to distract the mob and use a bandage on the Warrior. Buffing your pet with intimidation at the begining of a pull is a bad idea for two reasons: the stun effect prevents the tank from building threat and it blows one of your best chances at saving a squishy. Most warriors prefer your pet to have Growl turned off. If thats the case, then map growl to a key-binding. Your pet will die less and when that trigger happy priest pulls too much hate, you have an instant growl waiting to pull the mob off of him or her (provided your pet has enough focus). Priest Let your pet tank and hold aggro as much as possible. If the priest gets aggro, use Distracting Shot to take aggro onto yourself - you can take it better than they can. Following Distracting Shot with Concussive Shot is a little intensive but gets the mob off the healer and into the open where it can be taken away. Placing a Freezing Trap in front of your priest will freeze the first enemy that aggroes to the Priest, giving your group time to gain aggro on the mob and pull it off the Priest. Bring an extra 10-20 units of whatever type of drink you use to replenish your own mana, so that you have some to give the Priest if they run out. If the Priest is willing to heal your pet, be grateful, but don't expect it, since we have Mend Pet and so the Priest's mana is ideally intended to go to healing player characters. If you've got a Priest in a group, don't roll Need or Greed on cloth items, maces, wands, or staves. This will ensure that a Priest is able to get items which he or she can use. We can't use wands, and we shouldn't use either cloth or staves. If you've got a staff equipped, rest assured that there is another weapon in the game (generally a polearm) that will be better for you. Mage Do not roll on cloth or staves. Although rare, mageblades in the Sword class do exist, and there isn't really such a thing as a Sword which can be considered a true Hunter weapon either. If you ask a Mage for food or water, do so politely and respectfully, and do not simply demand it. It is not customarily needed or expected to tip a Mage who produces food or water for you, but doing so certainly will not hurt. Let your pet tank and hold aggro as much as possible. Let the mage Polymorph any adds (if humanoid, or beast, or critter). An Ice mage with Chill and Ice area of effect spells will benefit from your use of Volley and Multishot to take down the mobs faster. Laying a Frost Trap or Freezing Trap will also slow down the mobs. Druid Do not roll on leather with Intellect, Spirit, mana regeneration, or Strength. High level leather armor with those stats are almost certainly intended for Druids. We shouldn't roll on maces or staves at all, but especially do not roll on staves with bonuses to feral forms, since a Druid is the only class who can use those. If Balance Druid, Let your pet tank and hold aggro as much as possible. Let the druid Hybernate any adds (if beast, or dragonkin). If Healer Druid, see priest. If Feral Druid, see Rogue or Warrior sections. Shaman Ask kindly for a Grace of Air Totem and a Mana Spring Totem, and keep up Trueshot Aura if the Shaman you're working with is Enhancement. BM hunters can use Devilsaur Tooth to proc Ferocious Inspiration. Remember that Shamans can also heal your pet. Mail with Intellect, Spirit, or mana regeneration is generally intended for Shamans, and they should be allowed to have it. There is some mail in existence with Intellect that is intended for Hunters, and as you get better at loot identification you'll learn to recognise it when you see it. Maces are also the only weapon class in the game that we can't use, so make sure you let him have those, as well. Paladin We can't use plate armor, so don't roll on it, which will ensure that the Paladin can get it, since he can use it. If Healer Paladin, let pet tank and Paladin off-tank and heal. If Protection or Retribution Paladin, see Warrior section. Warlock See Mage section. Coordinate pets so that one of your pets can tank while the other does DPS. The Warlock's Imp has a handy stamina buff, although in some cases another pet could well be more useful, particularly if the Warlock is Demonology-specced. Category:Hunters